Playland/PNE (Vancouver) Discussion Thread

loop-de-loop · May 18, 2014

That looks awesome, thanks!

KI Kidd · May 18, 2014

Who manufactured the trains for Coaster?

Nrthwnd · May 18, 2014

^ Well I looked and looked and then FINALLY found the answer

for you - from an old TR of mine on Playland, LOL! The 2009 visit.

Back then, the ACE plaque was there right at the queue entrance.

Now it's not there any more, (actually, it might be interesting to

find out where it went...) but the writing on the last three lines

of that big paragraph, tell you that the designer/builder of the

coaster also built the three trains, as well. Carl Phare & Walker LeRoy.

Right there, in the small print. (o; And this was installed right after I returned from the 2009 TPR Scandi Tour!

And this is what (currently) replaced the plaque. Is this...

Progress?

Improvement?

Choose.

KI Kidd · May 19, 2014

^Thanks for posting that!

Nrthwnd · May 19, 2014

^ You are most welcome!

And here's a vertical shot of AtmosFEAR with the mountains behind.

Showing more of the tower itself. There are some great shots, this direction, with the mountains in back.

cfc · May 19, 2014

I haven't been to Vancouver since high school, and that was on a summer-band-program trip--no time for Playland. Need to check the place out some day.

GayCoasterGuy · May 19, 2014

Wow, a purple train!? Looks great! Coaster is at the top of my must-ride classic coaster list.

Nrthwnd · May 19, 2014

^ You won't regret it. And on our Playland Gay Day in mid-July,

it's a bit patronizing, but they DO use the purple train,

as well as the (usually) red train, for that Saturday.

Drag Queens on Coaster! It's amazing! Silly! Fabulous!

Hey GayCoasterGuy, let me know, if and when, and I can get you a

cheaper one day pass to the park, through Safeway!

And of course, meet up with you for a great visit to our park.

And here's a Drag Queen who really impressed us last summer at Gay Day.

From Las Vegas I remember. Great performer. Behind her is her "handler" lol.

Nrthwnd · May 25, 2014

Another visit to the park, yesterday. And I totally forgot about checking out the Cheese Please sandwich stall. Ah well, next visit for sure. But as I left the park, it occurred to me that while there is very little actual "landscaping" in the park itself, outside the park's main entrance, there is a near "forest" of trees on either side of the gates, most of which have been there for a long, long time, as you can see.

From the SkyWheel. Lots of stuff going on down there. And yes, there are a few trees here and there onsite.

But still, most of them are in "pots" above ground.

An AtmosFEAR shot. And all that landscaping, in plain sight.... sort of/kind of/not. (o;

Arrrrr, and sez I....everybody still loves that there Scrambler!

The park is also starting to add "hedging" around some rides, like the TeaCups.

But all of the metal fencing, still looks tacky to me. aaaarrr....

Playland Entrance "Plaza"

A bit closer to the ticket booths.

The far side of the entrance area.

SharkTums · May 27, 2014

I'm glad I finally made it out to this park. The hype I had heard about Coaster was totally justified, loved that ride!

Nrthwnd · May 27, 2014

I'm glad I finally made it out to this park. The hype I had heard about Coaster was totally justified, loved that ride!

Great, Elissa! Glad you finally got to ride it! It was a fun morning there, with all the filming.

And I found out this past weekend, the ride ops were really happy to FINALLY meet you and Robb,

after I'd been going on year after year about you and the TPR Tours. Awesome!

And now, with all the great TPR coverage of our "Final Destination 3" Corkscrew ,

even though there were approx.only a few actual shots of the coaster, and the rest was all effects....

We may never ever get rid of this old rusty Vekoma, thanks to TPR!

cal1br3tto · May 28, 2014

The hype I had heard about Coaster was totally justified, loved that ride!

I approve of this evaluation.

Nrthwnd · June 2, 2014

I was at the park last weekend, to experience the "Cheese Please"

grilled sandwich stall. Report to follow...

But for now - a nod to Tim Burton and NBC....

"What's this? What's this?

I can't believe my eyes.

It's brown and green.

In every shape and size...."

= new plantings around our AtmosFEAR recently done.

Which "could" be the start of a re-landscaping plan,

that will continue on through the seasons...cool!

Honestly it doesn't look like much, to the average

bigger theme park attendee - but this is a real semi-

permanent change to their "let's look like we're

ready to pull up stakes" etc. attitude. And that's great!

Near the Exit of the ride.

They're pretty thin and skimpy. But I expect they'll fill out in time.

______________ - All in a row. There's a rhyme in there, some where...

And some low greenery too. Good going Playland! More more MORE! (o:

Edited June 7, 2014 by Nrthwnd

Nrthwnd · June 6, 2014

So ^ Like I said, heh heh...Last weekend, I was back at the park, and checking out

this new little eating stall they had, called Cheese Please, which made grilled

cheese sandwiches (duh). The basic one and 'specialties'. And of course, NO CRUSTS

for the younger park goers.

I ordered the more elaborate "GCBLT" which had pulled beef, lettuce & tomato,

processed cheese, and flash fried pickles in it. I stuck with the standard

white bread for it, although they do ofter a multi-grain bread as well. And an

expensive bottle of water, lol.

The sandwich was good, well cooked, easy to handle, and great with just a dip

of ketchup on it from bite to bite. I barely tasted the pickles, so now I am

curious as to what that's all about, and will order them as a side, next time.

Nerd Shot #! of our Hellevator.

Nerd Shot #2 of some of the "inner workings" of Hellevator.

Now in behind those three primary coloured umbrellas (red, blue, and yellow) is a grilled cheese stall!

On the Skywheel, with a nice view of the distant mountains.

A shot of the red train, speeding down Coaster's first hill.

AtmosFEAR in full 'swing', heh heh.

You can't really miss it, with the park being so small, and that 'design' on the stall itself.

Looking towards where that grilled cheese shop is...

All nice and cheesed up!

As I got it, with a small amt.of ketchup, and a bottle of water. Total = $11 Cdn

Showing the inside of this cheesy creation. Lots of beef in there.

...And it was good! Although I felt there could have been more of those pickles in it for more taste.

But I will order them as a side, next time I order from Cheese Please.

View from where I was enjoying my sandwich.

Random Playland themeing.

And a few more swings of Crazy Beach Party, and it'll be gone after this season!

To be replaced next season by an XXL, I believe.

The menu. I had the GCBLT.

Nrthwnd · June 10, 2014

So - back to the park for one more visit, before I took off

on the TPR Scandi Tour, starting (for me) Wednesday.

I went back to CHEESE PLEASE, had their basic grilled cheese sandwich,

only with multi-grain bread, and BC Cheddar, instead of the processed cheese.

I also ordered an Add On (side) of the Flash Fried Pickles...

The sandwich was great; the pickles were a let down. There was hardly

any flavour of the actual pickles, and even the coating they were fried in,

was nothing special to rave about.

So - the sandwiches so far, are great from this stall. And the pickles are better

left IN the sandwich itself, LOL!

The OTHER THING I found out, mainly from ride operators and staff at the park was

No More Playland Gift Shop!

I was shocked, surprised and sad that their Gift Shop was no more. And then realized

I had several(now) :"collectibles" in t-shirts and 'stuff' from the two spots the shop used to be.

So if any of you guys out there own a souvenir from Playland, it

might be worth something...in a few hundred years or so LOLOL!

Everybody have a great summer!

And this is what the poor little space looks like, now. RIP Playland Gift Shop.

Not-so-basic GC with multi grain bread, and good tasty BC Cheddar Cheese instead of processed.

And the pickles...

Not much to see inside, except cheese, heh. And the pickles. I won't be ordering them

as an Add On any time soon. But IN a sandwich, definitely!

Now - it's the Guest Services stop. Same stuff on top of it, though

The Gifts Shop's first location, facing you as you entered the park gates.

It was a great place to showcase all the Playland swag.

The second spot, as part of the Hellevator ride. A very small tiny walk in. They basically tried to use it like a very base "gift shop after the attraction" kind of thing? Those exiting Hellevator had to go through the shop. Didn't last long. People kept hopping an exit fence, etc.

Some of what was inside, all crammed into half the space it used to occupy.

cfc · June 10, 2014

Hmm--they're getting mighty close to Monte Cristo Sandwich territory there. Seems like a logical next move.

Nrthwnd · June 10, 2014

^ The funny thing was, the first sandwich I ordered from there,

(GCBLT) was one of the specialties, and I had the feeling that it had been

a very very long time, one of those GCs had been ordered, lol.

And "one cook" was I guess, totally bored with making the same old, plain

old GCs. Until my order came in....

So I got a wonderful sandwich STUFFED with beef and everything!

This "plain" grilled cheese was just as good, but not as stuffed, heh.

But I want to try the other specialty GCs they're offering up. And

who knows, Chuck? A Monte Cristo may not be too far behind.

Evan-500 · June 19, 2014

Aww, I'm glad our little park is finally sprucing things up a bit. Last time I went and did one of those survey's all I really said was, PLEASE PAINT, PLEASE SPRUCE IT UP!

Nrthwnd · July 2, 2014

After just returning home from the TPR Scandi Tour, I decided what better way to get back to my fave home coaster, than with a visit on our country's national holiday, Canada Day! I visited Playland for a few hours on July 1, and found the park not to be as crowded as I thought it might be. Just like Mother's Day! So getting rides on Coaster was basically a walk-on, and I got three rides on it before exploring the park, to see how the rest of the park was Celebrating The Red (& White) of our flag's colour(s)....

Good start. Entrance lettering in my fave colour, and the flag's colour, red. (o:

And immediately upon entering, I see that the park's got a good block (there are more around the park, too) of solid red...giggles...lockers.

Crazy Beach Party has a flash of red here and there on it's support columns.

Hellevator is like a single striped piece of candy - still no gift shop there, though.

Red lights' section of the SkyWheel.

The new bumper cars cover has some red "flames" on it, but more yellow on it, still.

Yay - CorkScrew is red and white all over.

No red seen here, from the SkyWheel car. Just glorious scenery to enjoy.

"Arrrrrr. I's more of a BLACK 'n RED kinda guy, y'see matey?"

Actually, I would comment, it's more of a Black and Blue thing with The Pirate ride.

Nope. Not even close. Cover of the Music Express ride.

Awwwww. Interesting location and how it's displayed. And allll that landscaping there!

One red side - one blue side.

And one lonely red panel on Music Express.

Red and white umbrellas always look nice and festive to me.

My "Revelation" was that this could be easily be replaced by a slightly smaller, no-up charge booster ride, like in Power park in Finland. Playland take note!

Woo hoo! Not much business on this guy's arcade game, but he flies our flag in a great spot. Go Canada!

Bye Bye Baywatch - and Crazy Beach Party after this year. Something new to debut next season in this spot. Stay tuned...

My 'usual' snack at the park - a large White Spot fries, with a nice basic vanilla milkshake. And Red Ketchup!!!

And our flag flies proudly (out of a cluster of GIANT Mini-Donuts!), in the landscaped entry area of Coaster.

And while heading back to my car, I spotted this couple with the right idea, watching a baseball game unfold.

Nrthwnd · July 4, 2014

Happy Birthday USA! USA!...

And this is the best I could come up with on short notice...

...and BLUE! Woo hoo USA! (Best Wishes from your Little Bro up above you.)

Here's to the good old RED - WHITE....

Nrthwnd · July 6, 2014

You may now return to your normal day of activities.

Sign says it all.

Nrthwnd · July 11, 2014

I went back to the park today, getting my Coaster fix and all.

Decided to take a few "normal" shots, then play with them and exposure,

when I got back home. It always turns out a bit...uh.... 'psychedelic',

but that's okay with me. Faaaar out, man.

I started doing this, with a few shots taken during my recent tour with the

TPR 2014 Scandi Tour, in my trip report thread. With some surprising results.

But for now, here's the results of this visit to Playland...

Just an old Pirate Ship blocking the sun.

WHAM! Waves of colours surrround it like a magnet.

A bit of a shot of the Music Express, at the park.

BOING! This is what I liked the best, from the colour ranges.

Hmmm. Clear blue sky, here.

Doesn't have to be blue, right? (o;

I always enjoy taking shots of AtmosFEAR with the background scenery.

Interesting layers of colour here.

New promo posters for the season, displayed at Coaster's entrance area. Cool!

(And I's sure there will be comments about the far right poster, hmm? Yes? no?)

Nrthwnd · July 15, 2014

Just a reminder to anybody, wondering when Gay Day at Playland (PNE)...

IT'S THIS SATURDAY!!!

This day includes a Drag Promenade showcasing local drag talent from Vancouver. This day is family centered, purchase a ticket through the Vancouver Pride Society website in order to have proceeds go to us and to support our free public events. Come participate in face painting, go on the rides, or enjoy a refreshment in the 19+ beer garden.
Saturday, July 19, 2014 @ 11:00AM - 6:00PM

PNE Playland

Vancouver BC

Hope to see a lot of all of you out there.

Cheers for Queers!

(EDIT to add: Last year. they separated the Gay Day Area from Playland itself, so you didn't have to pay for a day ticket to the park, and just go see/do the Gay Day stuff. I have no idea what this year's will be, but last year's set up seemed to work well.)

(EDIT-EDIT to add: I have the Season's Pass to Playland, so getting in is a no prob for myself. I would just be paying the asked donation for entry into The Gay Area.)